Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI)—the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country—has won the prestigious 2021 Gawad Sinop Awards for Excellence in Supply Management, in recognition of its operational achievements with one of the most complex supply chains in the region.
CCBPI was cited for its sustainability and clean energy initiatives, for the optimization of its sprawling operations, and for its holistic outreach and relief programs that utilize the strengths of its extensive supply chain.
Outgoing CCBPI Logistics Director Ruth Genota also earned the Supply Management Professional of the Year award for her leadership contributions, particularly to CCBPI’s extensive logistics operations. CCBPI operates one of the biggest truck fleets in the country, with almost 3,000 trucks and over 2,000 sales service vehicles. Approximately 2,500 shipments per day are undertaken, transporting to 20,000 doors across the country.
Genota has since assumed the role of the Global Logistics Excellence Director for Bottling Investments Group, CCBPI’s mother company.
The Gawad Sinop Awards was organized by the Foundation of the Society of Fellows in Supply Management, Inc. and the Philippine Institute of Supply Management, meant to recognize individuals and institutions who significantly go above and beyond in the supply chain management industry.
Gawad Sinop’s recognition of CCBPI is testament to its commitment to quality service, integrating best-in-class practices and innovations to an extensive and complex supply chain that caters to millions. CCBPI operates 20 plants and over 70 distribution centers across the Philippines. Of the Company’s 10,000 associates, 6,000 are part of its supply chain—spanning manufacturing, quality and safety, and logistics and warehousing.
In line with this, implicit in every bottle of Coca-Cola in the market, is the promise that it was manufactured and delivered following the most stringent of safety measures and protocols— this promise is at the forefront of the Company’s day-to-day operations.
Service through supply chain innovations
Gawad Sinop likewise cited CCBPI’s sustainability initiatives across its operations. To date, as much as 65% of Coca-Cola’s total energy consumption is sourced from renewable and clean energy. CCBPI has also launched multi-phased solar power projects, with the first completed in 2021 via 14,000 solar panels installed in three plants. Four more sites are being prepared for the next phase, toward the company’s goal of a 24,000 solar panel project.
Coca-Cola has also been delivering significantly on reducing overall energy consumption. To track progress on this front, the Company uses a metric called Energy Use Ratio (EUR), which is the amount of energy used for every liter of product produced. The suite of energy savings initiatives has so far improved Coca-Cola’s energy use ratio from 2014 to 2021 by as much as 30%, which means that Coca-Cola is utilizing less power even as it produces more beverages.
On an annual basis, Coca-Cola ships around 6,000 containers across the country. CCBPI Logistics also operates in one of the most difficult environments in the world, given that delivery across an archipelago is compounded by challenges in transport infrastructure. CCBPI has thus established more efficient logistics operations and, in June 2021, launched its Mega Manila Hub—a strategic convergence point for the Company’s shipping operations, giving it an opportunity to synergize transport movements and generate cost savings to serve more people all over the Philippines.
The Gawad Sinop award also recognized CCBPI’s mobilization to provide relief goods to communities and institutions nationwide in times of disasters and hardships, from typhoons and earthquakes to community quarantines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without much fanfare, CCBPI has actually been leveraging its considerable operational capabilities, such as the scale of its truck fleet, to provide COVID-19-related relief to as many Filipinos as possible. More specifically, the Company has been making use of its nationwide transportation network to deliver essential beverages and food packs to as many households and communities as it can nationwide, from city centers to far-flung communities.
Supply chain excellence professionals
CCBPI’s scale has spurred continuous innovation within its operations, as well as a special focus on strengthening the capabilities of its associates—for CCBPI has always recognized that it is People that drive the growth of companies. As a necessary consequence, companies thus have a built-in incentive of doing their share in providing a career development path for their people.
To this end, CCBPI maintains a Supply Chain Excellence Team (SCE) that is focused on building a culture of continuous improvement across the organization. Its flagship people development program, SMART Supply Chain, is anchored on the Company’s principle of championing its people and building on their skills and talents. Associates that are hired as line operators and production technicians are given the resources, training, experience, and the tangible opportunity to become production engineers. Through this upskilling initiative, Coca-Cola promotes employee advancement among its associates.
CCBPI Manufacturing Director Frank Garcia, who accepted the Gawad Sinop awards on behalf of the company, said in a statement during the ceremony: “Coca-Cola shares the vision of PISM to grow the Filipino supply chain management profession. We are truly honored to be given this award and be recognized by PISM—it’s an affirmation that our Supply Chain management initiatives at CCBPI are helping pave the way in leading the industry towards the future.”
CCBPI’s receipt of the Gawad Sinop awards also underscored the Company’s guiding principle and People-First commitment. Garcia emphasized that the award was testament to the hard work of the over 10,000 Coca-Cola associates who, day in and day out, commit themselves to providing happy refreshing moments through top-quality Coca-Cola beverages to Filipinos across the country.
